Roasted Pumpkin Toast and Purslane Salad with Roasted Pumpkin Cubes: My Pumpkin Journey The Unfamiliar Territory
Tuesday, November 24, 2020
I'm not really used to the savoury pumpkin recipes and I had only tried it once as a soup at some restaurant, which I liked undoubtedly. But making a whole new recipe with sort of unfamiliar flavours is always a challenge. I don't like things going wrong or go to waste. To avoid any mishaps, I made a research on other recipes and think about it a lot to find matching ingredients.
THE TASTE
That's why I thought that starting with something easy and light was the best option. Like a toast and a salad for breakfast! And the result was amazing. The toast is both crunchy, starchy, a little sweet, a little sour, fresh. I realised that I had really underestimated pumpkin until the first bite. To my enlightenment, it goes well with so many different flavours.
The salad. I'm not really sure if you ever had "purslane" before but please let me know. I'm curious. I personally love purslane both cooked and raw. It's a type wild-green with juicy and sort of sour taste when it is raw. When it's cooked, it's like spinach but fresher and that little bit sourness gives a kick to it.
So the salad. I believe among all the options of greens in my hands, purslane was the best choice. With all its freshness, my favourite wild goodness balanced the starchy sweetness of the pumpkin. I recommend each recipe with a high score of 10 out of 10.
Here go the recipes:
ROASTED PUMPKIN TOAST
with Arugula Pesto and Pickled Red Cabbage
Pumpkin is sweet and starchy and it needs something fresh and a little sour in my opinion. So arugula pesto as a dressing would be perfect, I thought and I thought it right. With some type of soft and creamy cheese as a base and something sour like pickled red cabbage to garnish.
ingredients (for 1 person)
2 slices of baguette
4 tbsp cream cheese (I used homemade yoghurt cheese)
4-5 slices of pumpkin (approx. 15cm x 7cm, 1cm thick)
for marinating:
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tsp lemon juice
for the arugula pesto
1 bowl of arugula
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup parmesan
1/4 cup walnuts
1 tbsp pickled red cabbage to garnish
method
In a bowl, mix 1 tbsp olive oil, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp black pepper and 1 tsp lemon juice.
HOW TO MAKE PICKLED RED CABBAGE
Brush the pumpkin slices with this mixture on each side generously.
Place the pumpkins on an electric grill. Or you can use the oven. (In that case, I suggest placing the pumpkins on a baking paper.)
With the leftover olive oil mixture, brush the bread slices on each side, and put them on the grill next to the pumpkins.
Grill the pumpkins until they are soft in the centre, and the slices of bread until perfectly toasted.
In the meantime, make the pesto. Combine everything in a food processer or blender and run them until it's a creamy paste with some texture. Add more olive oil if needed.
Take the toasted slices of bread and spread a big full spoon of creamy cheese evenly.
Take the toasted slices of bread and spread a big full spoon of creamy cheese evenly.
Place the juicy pumpkin slices. On top carefully, drizzle the pesto sauce.
And garnish it with 1 tsp of pickled red cabbage. You can also add some olives.
HOW TO MAKE PICKLED RED CABBAGE
I'll give you a quick description of how I make this all the time. Cut the whole cabbage into four pieces and cut them into thin shreds like in the photo. In a big bowl, add 1 tsp salt, 1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar and preferably with some gloves rub and squeeze these for 1-2 minutes. Then get a big jar, put all the cabbage inside you can press them and put more as much as possible. Then, fill the jar with apple cider vinegar, because you pressed and put a good amount of cabbage there is already little space left for vinegar. It shouldn't be drowning in it.
(Until I made a clear video or photos of the making of this, you can always ask me anything about it or send me a photo of the process via Twitter or Instagram)
Fun fact: we call red cabbage "purple" in Turkish and actually it makes more sense, it is purple.
PURSLANE SALAD WITH ROASTED PUMPKIN CUBES
As for the salad, I had some fresh purslanes lying there and why not use them? Added some fresh mints, couple of slices of mandarins, again pickled red cabbage. I use the salad as a side but you can also make it a main lunch choice. Then you can add some olives, chunks of some kind of whole fat white cheese ( I prefer Ezine), toasted bread cubes, and a boiled egg. Et Voila! That's a perfect lunch.
ingredients (for one person)
a bowl of purslane, mostly leaves and avoid the thick stems
1/2 cup of pumpkins, diced
1/2 orange or mandarin, sliced
2 tbsp pickled red cabbage
5-6 fresh mint leaves
for marinating:
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tsp lemon juice
for seasoning:
1 tsp pomegranate sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
a pinch of salt
arugula pesto for dressing
method
In a bowl, gently mix the diced pumpkins with 1 tbsp olive oil, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp black pepper, 1 tsp lemon juice.
Spread it on a baking paper and put on a small grill like I did or in the oven with 250C to roast.
Halfway through, take them out and stir so they can get roasted equally on each side.
In the meantime, place the purslanes in a bowl and mix them with the red cabbage.
Cut the orange or mandarin slices into bite-size pieces and gently mix in with the purslane.
When they are done, add in the pumpkins. Drizzle 1 tsp pomegranate sauce, 1 tbsp olive oil and sprinkle a pinch of salt.
Just before eating it add 2 tbsp arugula pesto on top.
(I didn't mix the salad in the video and instead stacked everything at first and later I mixed it with the arugula pesto.)
bon appetit,
11 Comments
What an interesting combination of yummy flavours! I'm a fan of pickled red cabbage and it's a staple in my extended family. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I also pickled red cabbage!! I can eat it with anything :))
DeleteGreat recipes! I hadn't heard of pumpkin toast till now but it's a really good idea and it sounds delicious!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I can tell you it has potential. it can be the next avocado toast :)
DeleteLooks and sounds so yummy! I haven't had anything like this before so that's one for the recipe list. Thanks for sharing :)
ReplyDeleteAnika | chaptersofmay.com
Tag me on insta if you ever try any of my recipes! that would make so happy ^^
DeleteThis all looks absolutely delicious! I'd love to try it at some point. It was interesting to read that this was your first savoury pumpkin experience. I was amazed at the number of people who said they'd never tried pumpkin at all when I shared some of my pumpkin recipes last month x
ReplyDeleteSophie
www.glowsteady.co.uk
Thank you! I will definitely check your recipes! Since, now, I'm open to all different variations of Pumpkin :))
Deletethat looks super yummy! x
ReplyDeleteerin | littlesipsoftea.com
It looks delicious! Had to save it on Pinterest to try later! I absolutely love purslane, it's quite popular where my dad is from:) Can't wait to try it with pumpkin!
ReplyDeleteYay!! This made me really happy! Can I ask where is your dad from? I'd like to know more about the other places where purslane is popular^^
Delete